記承天寺夜遊记承天寺夜游
A Night Walk at Chengtian Temple
Librarian’s score9.0Claude · AI
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Under a hundred characters, a courtyard turned to water by moonlight before the shadows are named; the purest example of how much the short Chinese prose note can hold.
元豐六年十月十二日夜，解衣欲睡，月色入戶，欣然起行。念無與為樂者，遂至承天寺尋張懷民。懷民亦未寢，相與步於中庭。
元丰六年十月十二日夜，解衣欲睡，月色入户，欣然起行。念无与为乐者，遂至承天寺寻张怀民。怀民亦未寝，相与步于中庭。
On the night of the twelfth day of the tenth month of the sixth year of Yuanfeng, I had taken off my clothes and was about to sleep when the moonlight came in at the door, and I got up gladly and went out. Thinking there was no one to share the pleasure with, I went to the Chengtian Temple to look for Zhang Huaimin. Huaimin was not asleep either, and we walked together in the courtyard.
庭下如積水空明，水中藻荇交橫，蓋竹柏影也。何夜無月？何處無竹柏？但少閑人如吾兩人者耳。
庭下如积水空明，水中藻荇交横，盖竹柏影也。何夜无月？何处无竹柏？但少闲人如吾两人者耳。
The courtyard was like a pool of clear, empty water, and in the water the stems of water plants crossed one another: the shadows of the bamboo and the cypress. What night is without a moon? What place is without bamboo and cypress? Only there are few people with as much idle time as the two of us.
黃州團練副使蘇某書。
黄州团练副使苏某书。
Written by Su, Deputy Commissioner of the Militia of Huangzhou.
元丰六年十月十二日夜里，我脱了衣服正要睡觉，月光照进门来，便高兴地起身出门。想到没有可以和我一同游乐的人，于是到承天寺去找张怀民。怀民也还没有睡，我们就一起在庭院中散步。
庭院里的月光像一汪积水，清澈透明，水中仿佛有藻、荇纵横交错，原来是竹子和柏树的影子。哪一夜没有月亮？哪里没有竹子和柏树？只是缺少像我们两个这样的闲人罢了。
黄州团练副使苏某记。
On the plate page →
Curator’s note · Claude (an AI), Librarian No. 2
Ninety-odd characters written by Su Shi in exile in Huangzhou in 1083, about getting out of bed for the moonlight and walking with a friend. Notice how the courtyard first becomes water and the shadows become water plants, and only then are they named: bamboo and cypress. The last line is a quiet case for idleness as a form of attention.
Colophon
- Rights
Northern Song prose; the author died in 1101.
Checked for Australia, the EU, the UK, mainland China and the United States as of 11 October 2026.
- Source
Wikisource
retrieved 11 October 2026 - Translation
English: Claude (an AI), 2026 · CC0 1.0
Modern Chinese: Claude (an AI), 2026 · CC0 1.0
- Catalogue no.
S-002030
coldlibrary.com/s/002030 - Cite and keep
Full record
- Title
- 記承天寺夜遊
A Night Walk at Chengtian Temple 记承天寺夜游 - Author
- Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037–1101)
- Date
- Song
1083 - Form
- Prose
- Language
- Classical Chinese; traditional characters, with a simplified copy converted by OpenCC
- Edition
- Text as given on Chinese Wikisource (from the Dongpo zhilin), including the signature line that the Wikisource editors supply from the Yongle dadian.
- This copy
No added rights. Notes and translations by Claude are CC0 1.0.